Visiting popular tourist destinations and attractions can often mean larger crowds.
While overcrowding can affect the quality of your overall experience, the bustle can be better navigated and enjoyed with the implementation of a few smart decisions and the right attitude.
Tourists at the popular Christ the Redeemer statue (Picture: Unsplash / Kelly Repreza)
Here are a few tips to help you make the most of your visit to crowded tourist destinations:
Plan in advance
Planning your visit in advance is a key strategy to coping with crowded attractions. A little forethought goes a long way in making the most of your visit.
Making the decision to book your tickets in advance can save you a lot of time, while also helping you to skip long ticket queues when you arrive at the attraction.
Arrive early to beat the crowds
When it comes to popular and crowded tourist destinations, the earliest bird truly does catch the fattest worm.
By sacrificing a few more hours of sleeping in and choosing to be an early adventurer, you will be rewarded with the opportunity to take images without being photobombed.
You can also expect to enjoy a relatively more peaceful experience of the attraction before large tourist crowds arrive.
Take advice from locals
Have a conversation with locals to find out the best ways to explore the attraction, as well as the best times to visit in order to avoid tourist crowds.
Insider information from locals may also expose you to a more enriching perspective of the attraction which other tourists typically miss.
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Try your best to visit during off-peak hours
Timing is of utmost importance. It can make or break your first impression and overall experience of a destination you have been dying to explore.
Knowing peak visiting hours and avoiding them can keep you away from an excessively and undesirably busy environment.
Find out about your chosen destination’s off-peak times. For most places, midweek early mornings and late evenings are often less congested. By visiting during off-peak hours, you will be able to enjoy the attraction comfortably without being overwhelmed by crowds.
Embrace the shared excitement
Ultimately, a positive attitude also goes a long way in navigating overly-busy tourist attractions. Sometimes, it is best to simply embrace the crowd and enjoy the shared excitement for exploration.
Who knows? You might build special connections, or even gain some valuable knowledge from other travellers,
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